Why Elizabeth Warren went to West Virginia

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Longshot Senate hopeful Natalie Tennant is running as a centrist Democrat here, an approach mandated by the fact that Barack Obama lost all of the state’s 55 counties two years ago. But on Monday the West Virginia secretary of state welcomed Elizabeth Warren, the country’s leading liberal voice, to campaign for her.

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The duo talked about their shared support for raising the minimum wage, lowering interest rates on student loans and mandating equal pay for women. But Tennant went out of her way to stress that she and the Massachusetts senator disagree on coal and the new EPA regulations.

“I will stand up to Elizabeth Warren if I need to,” the candidate told reporters after they shared a stage for an hour.

Running far behind Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in the race to replace Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Tennant realizes she needs the progressive base to turn out. Though the Mountain State electorate is shifting right, there are still lots of unabashedly liberal voters in this working-class state.

She also knows that a liberal Democrat can’t win here anymore.

So the candidate tried to capitalize on the benefits of Warren’s national notoriety without getting too close. A significant portion of Warren’s 20-minute speech seemed aimed at activists who might not be particularly motivated to volunteer for or donate to Tennant, who has twice been elected secretary of state.

“Natalie Tennant and I do not agree on every issue,” said the 65-year-old former Harvard Law School professor, “but on the core issue, on the issue that is about our values, on the issue that defines us as human beings, Natalie and I agree: our job is to fight for the families of America.”

Warren exited a side door after her speech without stopping to take reporter questions, which would only have highlighted their differences.

Most of the 400-plus people at the afternoon event clearly came for Warren. Many even said in interviews that they prefer the Warren-Obama view on coal.

“Natalie I don’t know as well, but I figure anybody who is a good friend of Elizabeth’s is a good friend of mine,” said Pierce, a retired electrical engineer from nearby Harper’s Ferry.

While Tennant typically tries to localize the race, Warren’s visit helped nationalize it in the minds of Democrats who want Harry Reid to stay Majority Leader.

“Capito’s going to be a tough one to beat, but we’re going to do our best,” added Pierce. “I’d hate to see us lose the Senate majority.”

West Virginia Republicans were all too happy to have Warren in the state, using it as a chance to portray Tennant as more liberal than she lets on. A statement from Capito’s campaign quoted one GOP senator calling Warren “a champion of President Obama’s extreme liberal agenda.”

But the freshman senator is not as toxic here as the president, and the people who dislike her most are unlikely to vote Democratic anyway.

In this context, it’s not too surprising that red state Democrats have so publicly embraced Warren. Two weeks ago, she spent two days in Kentucky for Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democrat challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. She’s also signed fundraising emails for Georgia’s Michelle Nunn and South Dakota’s Rick Weiland.

Warren can also help with fundraising. Capito raised $1.3 million last quarter and has about $5 million cash on hand. Tennant raised just $777,000 and has only $1.5 million cash on hand. In Northern Kentucky, Warren raised $200,000 for Grimes in addition to giving a speech at a university.

Jan Hafer, a retired teacher who works for the local visitor’s bureau, protests against mountaintop removal mining and believes “there’s no future for coal.” She volunteered that she would much rather vote for Warren than Hillary Clinton in 2016. Tennant’s opposition to the EPA rules troubles Hafer, so Warren’s support is crucial.